The palace of Pylos constituted the largest regional economic center in southwestern Greece during the Bronze Age (16th- 12th centuries B.C.) with evidence for high levels of craft specialization, production, and control of towns in the surrounding areas, and for a strict political hierarchy. As the earliest constructed, longest lived, and best preserved Mycenaean palace, Pylos holds a unique position in Late Bronze Age archaeology with audience halls, archive rooms, stunning wall paintings, and thousands of Linear B tablets. The archaeological data from the cemeteries also sets it apart from the other palaces: Pylos is the only palace with cemeteries nearby that have been excavated using modern methods and are well-recorded. Yet, to date the vast richness of data available in the tombs has not been mined fully. Through a detailed examination of the tombs and their contents my study changes our understanding of how the Pylian state was formed; it elucidates how Pylos differed from other Mycenaean societies; it refines the complex relationship between Pylos and the greater Mediterranean world; and it demonstrates how the community manipulated funerary rituals to create social prestige and power.